Saturday, March 17, 2012

Don't Let the FDA Get Away With It!

The FDA wants to take away our right to purchase nutritional supplements. They have proposed draconian recommendations on supplement manufacturers that would essentially remove most supplements from being available to consumers. Why would the FDA try to do this? One would hope that they must be doing this to protect us from the danger of vitamins and mineral neutraceuticals.

How many people are taking neutraceuticals in the U.S.? It is estimated that 69% of U.S. adults take nutritional supplements with multivitamins being the most popular form. That means that nearly 215,000,000 Americans are taking nutritional supplements. I can assure you that the vast majority are taking these supplements on their own—without the advice of their doctor or without being monitored by anyone.

If, as the FDA states, vitamins and minerals are so dangerous, one would assume that many people must be dying from their ‘unauthorized’ use. However, there is no data showing that neutraceuticals are a danger. The latest (2010) statistics available from the U.S. National Poison Data System (http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDS/AnnualReports/tabid/125/Default.aspx) show zero deaths due to multivitamins as well as individual vitamin supplements. Contrast this with report after report detailing the toxicity of FDA-approved prescription medications. FDA-approved Cox-2 inhibitors Vioxx and Celebrex are responsible for over 50,000 deaths and 100,000 strokes and heart attacks. That is one single class of medications. There are estimates that adverse drug reactions (the drug was taken and prescribed appropriately) that resulted in death are the second or third most common cause of death in the U.S.

Perhaps the FDA should focus its energy on what is truly harming patients; the toxicity of prescription medications. Most medications (Cox-2 inhibitors included) work by poisoning enzymes and blocking receptors in the body. As I stated in my book, Drugs that Don’t Work and Natural Therapies That Do, you can’t expect a good long-term result by relying on therapies (i.e, prescription drugs) that poison enzymes or block receptors. There are far too many patients taking far too many toxic prescription medications.

What can you do? Number one, don’t let the FDA take away your right to use nutritional supplements. Contact the FDA (1-888-463-6332) and tell them how you feel. Next, take the basic steps to provide your body with the proper balance of natural items it needs to optimally function. That means eating a healthy diet, exercising, and ensuring that you don’t have nutritional deficiencies. The best way to accomplish this is to work with a health care practitioner who is knowledgeable about how to use a holistic approach to promote health.